My poll of her Mid
Bedfordshire seat found nearly all of them knew she was involved in the show,
and nearly half said they would watch at least one episode. But more than
half, including more than half of Conservative voters, said they disapproved – and most of those did so strongly.
Perhaps not surprisingly, older voters objected by a huge margin, but even
those aged under 25 were more likely to disapprove than approve of her taking
part.

Accordingly, most Mid Beds
voters – including two thirds of Tories – said David Cameron was right to
suspend her from the party when he discovered she would be away from
Westminster and her constituency for up to a month.

Nadine said she was doing the
show for the chance to talk to a huge audience about important questions, at a
time when nobody pays attention to politicians. Unfortunately, her constituents
are not buying this: only a third agreed that on I’m A Celebrity she “will be able to get more attention for the
issues she cares about than she would be able to in Westminster”.
Nor are they impressed that
her parliamentary salary for the time she is away will go to local charities:
only a third think this “makes up for the fact that she is away making a TV
programme rather than being in Westminster or her constituency”.

Nadine’s voters are evenly
divided over whether she has been a good MP for the area, though her Tory
supporters are more likely to say she has. The Conservatives have a comfortable
lead in the seat, and around half of her constituents say her taking part in
the show will make no difference to how they vote at the next election. But
only a handful say this will make them more inclined to support her; 45% of
Conservative voters in the seat say they will be less likely to vote for her
again.

There is a long way to go to
the next election and voters can be forgiving. But however well-intentioned,
Nadine’s publicity stunt does not look like the triumph she hoped for.

1,500 adults in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency were
interviewed by telephone between 14 and 18 November 2012. See
lordashcroftpolls.com for full details.